It is night, it must be 3 or 4 am at least. And it is cold. We are all bunched together on the intersection right next to the occupation, and a drumcircle is playing. A drumcircle is always playing. The world could be going down but they will continue beating those drums until the ship has sunk completely. People are prepared for the worst. Everybody is wearing bandanas in front of their faces to protect against the media and against the teargas that they are expecting. Some people have gas masks on, or goggles, or both. I am standing in between all of this, bandana strapped in front of my face, a hoodie pulled over my head. It’s late, and I’m slightly tired, because I had no sleep the night before.
Choppers are hovering overhead, shining on us with big white beams of light. We are in between tall office buildings, and people are screaming protest songs. It feels like apocalypse. But it also feels powerful.
The reason we came was because the camp was in danger of getting raided again tonight. We are the manpower to make sure no aggression happens, and no mass arrests. The fewer people there are, the more dangerous it is. Supposedly.
The intersection we are on is called Broadway and
Rumors are that the riot police is coming. They are preparing to cattle us. I don’t know exactly what cattling means in this context but I can imagine it perfectly well. Yet still, nothing is happening.
Suddenly, at the far end of one of the streets, we see a line of cops marching our way. And in the other street also, and the other street also. All around us, police in riot gear are steadily walking in our direction. They look so much stronger than us. I’m getting slightly freaked out, but one of the people I am with tells me that they have to give a warning first and give us a chance to leave before they arrest us. That’s a relief.
The crowd is rather passive tonight.
This is just silly. Basically, the camp is taken in already. They won. Whoever is in the camp is on their own now. People are taking pictures of the police, and talking into them. There is one cop who is chewing gum and who keeps on smiling at whatever the protesters tell him. It seems really perverted. Here we are, in an intersection, surrounded by police. They have batons, and teargas, and they have used it before. We need an uproar to save the camp. But the police is just standing there, and nobody is doing anything but screaming insults. A friend I was with made a police man cry. The big waiting begins.
After an hour or so, the police move into the camp. On the intersection people are getting more aggressive, screaming “pigs” at the police, and asking them to let the people inside the camp go. Everybody in the camp is sitting on the floor, passively, and they are getting arrested, one by one. It’s a very sad view, especially since there’s nothing we can do.
I’ll go to more protests, I’ll protect more. This was a silly night, and no more of this should happen. It should be more strategic. More effective.
Tomorrow (or today) at 4 pm people are gathering again, and the camp will be reoccupied. “You cannot evict an idea whose time has come”.
Unfortunately I wasn’t ready, I was sleepwalking. The crowd wasn’t active enough. I walked back to the van and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.
More to follow.
oh this is a depressing riot. This is why the occupy movements are disbanding. they talk so much about power in numbers and working together to un-arrest people but when it comes down to it the police just walk all over things and bully their way through it with their weaponry. Just think of this one as practice in preparation for something that effects you in the future.
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